Burlington mayoral race may test support for IRV

Progressive Bob Kiss celebrates winning the election for Mayor of Burlington, Vt., Tuesday, March 7, 2006, at a campaign party for his supporters.

Voters
choosing the mayor of Vermont's largest city next week can be forgiven if they take
a little extra time at the polling booth.

Burlington's mayor will be chosen by instant run-off voting, or
IRV for short.

It's
not the first time Queen City residents have chosen their mayor this way. Incumbent
Progressive Bob Kiss was elected by IRV in 2006....so, he's all for it:

(Kiss) "We moved to this plan in
order to have majority-elected mayors. I was elected mayor as a result of
instant runoff voting so I think the system works pretty well.''

But
this time around some critics of IRV fear that no matter who the eventual
winner is...the process that got him there will leave a bitter aftertaste.

To
help us sort out the complexities of IRV, we're speaking with VPR's Bob Kinzel,
who's been studying the issue, and says the first thing to realize is that IRV
can only come into play under certain conditions.